


Who Are You?

by MaybeItsNotPerfect



Series: The Forgotten Prophecy [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crushes, Flirting, Galaxy Garrison, Hunk Cameo, Keith is so Innocent, Keith's Feelings, Lance Declares Keith his Rival, Lance Doesn't Know What's Good For Him, M/M, Matt Holt Cameo, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), One Shot, Pining, Pre-Voltron: Legendary Defender, Shiro is a good brother, lots of flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29370975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaybeItsNotPerfect/pseuds/MaybeItsNotPerfect
Summary: In which Lance daringly rescues a princess, sneaks her back through her overrun castle to the safety of her bedchambers, and he even gets a kiss!Or, what really happened between Keith and Lance at the Galaxy Garrison, featuring Keith's feelings.
Relationships: Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: The Forgotten Prophecy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2157474
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	Who Are You?

The first time he had ever noticed this guy was when he came right up to Keith with an upset face and Keith had wondered what the fuck he had done to deserve that look.   


"Kogane!" he yelled as he marched up to Keith. "Next time, I'll beat you for sure!" he asserted, standing only a foot apart from Keith.  


Keith looked back up at the score board that had all the piloting students' scores listed from best to worst next to their last names. Kogane was at the very top of the list, as it had been last semester and the semester before that. No one had batted an eye at these results since after the first semester he had transferred in. He looked at the score directly below his which belonged to James Griffin, as it always had. He quickly scanned further down the list looking to see if he recognized any of the other names on it. He looked back at the boy with dark skin and brown hair in puzzlement, trying to remember his face.   


He must have given his thoughts away because the boy so close in his personal space suddenly deflated dramatically. "Come on, do you really not know who I am?" he whined.   


Keith blinked. "Who are you?"  


"I'm Lance! Lance McClain!" he said a bit too loudly. Though since the other students seemed to be ignoring them, he supposed it didn't really matter.   


He went to look for the name McClain on the board but the boy jumped in front of him, trying to block his view.   


" _That!_ really doesn't matter!" he tried getting Keith's eyes back to his face, but it was already too late.   


McClain: 33rd out of 96. There were 32 students in fighter class and 64 students in cargo class, which meant that McClain was at the top of his own class, but not nearly good enough to beat Keith anytime soon.   


Keith looked at McClain skeptically. "You really think you can beat me?"  


"Well—" McClain spluttered after his voice cracked. His faced turned a bit darker and Keith watched with a detached fascination as he tried to recover himself. "I will!" he eventually said in absolute determination, staring Keith down.   


Keith looked from one of his eyes to the other, watching as they never wavered nor faltered under his scrutiny. "Then I guess you have a lot of work to do," he finally said.   


McClain looked shocked by Keith's words but Keith couldn't tell why.   


With that said, it was lunch time and Keith wanted to get to the cafeteria before the best dish was gone, so he turned his back and started heading out.   


"You're on!" he heard called from behind him. 

And so, at the beginning of the next semester, Keith made sure to watch for McClain during their flight simulations. It wasn't difficult to do since Iverson would call out the names of the students up to bat and the rest of them would be forced to watch the progression. He'd never paid much attention to any of the other students' attempts before, so most of the time, he just felt bored during this class.   


With McClain's name being called, Keith's eyes snapped to the front. The brunet with perfect clay skin wasted no time waltzing up to the simulator door but he stopped briefly and glanced around until his eyes found Keith's. Clearly he was taking this whole beating Keith thing seriously. Keith's face remained stoic as he didn't dare back down from the challenge. McClain however, winked at him.   


Just as quickly as he had found Keith's eyes, he looked away and called out as he turned to walk into the simulation pod, "Come on, guys! Let's crush this!" and his teammates followed in after him.   


How is it, Keith wondered, that someone could do something so unexpectedly provocative in front of so many strangers and not feel the slightest bit of embarrassment? And just what kind of provocation was McClain trying to give to Keith? It was absurd to think that someone without the results to back up all of that confidence would feel justified in challenging Keith that way.   


If anyone else had noticed McClain's actions, none would be able to decipher to whom the provocation was intended for as Keith gave no outward sign or acknowledgement. Honestly, he didn't feel any which way about it, but it did cause him to be intimately intent on cataloging every detail of McClain's trial behind the controls.   


There were two things Keith noticed about McClain as a pilot. One, he was not a natural. Keith knew the difference because he, himself was said to be a natural at anything to do with flying. It was in the way McClain took a few milliseconds to think before doing something, the way he would hesitate at the unexpected, that gave it away. His movements weren't perfectly smooth or fluid, there was a clunkiness that he had yet to overcome. He was good at hiding it though. His voice was all confidence and poise as he tried communicating with his teammates. And two, McClain was actually better than about half the pilots in fighter class. These two things coupled together meant that despite his brashness, he was a hard worker who spent time to hone his skills in the face of difficulty. That was something Keith could respect in a detached sort of way.   


Conclusion, the only reason McClain was still in cargo class must have been that his grades on their written assignments brought his total score down terribly. That must suck.   


Still, when it came time for Keith's flight, even though it was only their first sim of the semester, he made sure to do as least better than McClain. 

Although this continued on for a while, nothing changed beyond his notice of McClain. That is, until something drastic took place.   


Keith _tried_ to avoid fights, he _tried_ his hardest to ignore it when other students poked at him like a sleeping bear just for the sake of their own amusement, but sometimes that James Griffin took things too far. When that happened, all his careful control, his self-imposed restrictions and thoughts of giving Shiro something to actually be proud of him for, went out the window.   


And Griffin taking things too far is exactly how _he_ ended up taking things too far... by punching Griffin in the face and starting their physical altercation. _And_ that's exactly how his trip to the weight room gave him a tan brunet standing between them, trying to calm them both down. But then Griffin yelled something and McClain focused solely on trying to talk Keith's opponent down.   


Keith had no idea what they were saying, he had been so furious one moment and then so confused the next that he couldn't pay any attention to that. He stared at McClain's back and wondered why he was there, why he was trying to stop them. What did it matter if they beat each other to shit? It's not like it would truly affect McClain.   


But the next moment, Keith had no more time to ponder as he could see everything play out before it actually happened, like animal instinct. Griffin would snap in a second and swing at McClain. McClain wasn't a fighter, he wasn't prepared for it. He'd get hit and then Keith would really have to beat the shit out of Griffin.   


Keith grabbed McClain by the back of his collar and yanked him out of the way just as Griffin's face turned and he went for him.   


"What the hell?!" McClain yelped, probably both because of the suddenness of the punch he didn't see coming, and from Keith's quick reaction to keep him from feeling it.   


Griffin stared at Keith in shock and seemed to wake up to what he had just done. The only good thing in Keith's mind about Griffin was that the only person he ever seemed willing to hit was Keith.   


McClain must have seen the look on Keith's face and the flash in his eyes because he suddenly grabbed Keith by the shoulders and pushed him all the way out the door and into the hall. Normally, this wouldn't have stopped him from going after Griffin, but Keith had been working out.   


Which meant, Keith was shirtless.   


His shoulders were bare.   


The moment tanned skin touched his, blood rushed to the point of contact, zinging through his veins, heightening the sense of his nerves, sending tendrils of tingling pleasure from his shoulders up the sides of his neck. Keith's face felt hot. His mind practically short-circuited as he couldn't really think any actual thoughts.   


His eyes fixed themselves on the boy's arms until the boy let go of Keith's shoulders and let his arms fall to his sides, causing Keith's gaze to drop to the boy's hands.   


Keith knew McClain was saying something to him. He knew McClain hadn't noticed the effect he had on Keith as he was looking over his shoulder, worrying that Griffin might follow after them. He was aware, somewhat dimly, that if McClain had been affected at all the way Keith had been, he must have ignored the feeling entirely, but Keith was transfixed, following the fingertips before him, to the hand that appeared smooth, up the sleeve of an orange and white uniform not unlike his own, to the skin exposed at the neck until he saw hair that looked like it might curl at the ends if only it were a little longer.   


McClain's face turned back to him mid-sentence and Keith noticed for the first time that his eyes were blue. Such an odd thing considering his other coloring, but beautiful and telling. They were so clear but still had depth and richness.   


The boy stopped talking to give Keith a funny look and after visibly giving him a once over, looked decidedly concerned.   


"Dude, are you okay?"  


Keith was surprised when he actually heard the words out of the guy's mouth as now that his brain seemed to be working again, all he could think was, _how the hell could someone do that!_ followed by the incessant desire for him to do it again.   


"I don't think so," Keith answered, and that was the honest truth.   


McClain inspected him even more closely at this. He put his chin in one hand and scraped his eyes back and forth along Keith's body. If Keith's face hadn't been red before, it certainly was now. He'd never experienced anything like this before, never felt self-conscious with someone simply looking at him. And then McClain focused hard on his face and Keith's mind went blank again as a coping mechanism.   


McClain's eyes flickered across his features and he carefully reached forward to touch Keith's cheek saying, "It does look pretty bad."  


The same sensory response prickled over the side of Keith's face and spread itself until it focused on tingling at his lips. Keith inhaled a sharp breath and his eyes dropped to McClain's lips of their own accord.   


McClain's hand recoiled the next instant in panic. "Sorry! I didn't mean— It must hurt!" he scrambled to apologize.   


Keith watched him bite his lip in anxiety, something he had yet to see manifest in this person, and felt a flare of anger because no, it hadn't hurt, and he hated that his reaction made him stop.   


Keith frowned hard. "It doesn't hurt," he insisted.   


"Sure it doesn't," McClain responded placatingly, like he didn't believe Keith at all. "Anyway," he glanced back over his shoulder, "we should get out of here before one of the teachers or guards finds you. I know how to avoid them, so I'll take you back to your room."  


Keith raised his eyebrows at that. "What?"  


"Tell me where your room is, I can get us anywhere in the building without getting caught," he explained, completely missing what Keith was actually trying to ask him.   


Keith stared at McClain blankly, trying to figure him out for himself.   


McClain raised a single eyebrow at Keith, seeming impatient. "Come on, Kogane, don't just space out. And where is your shirt?" he suddenly asked like he had just noticed. "All the girls already know you're hot, you don't have to prove it."  


Keith's face flushed red again. Not because of what he had said but because of what could have been implied. How could he _say_ things like that?   


"It's in there," Keith pointed back at the weight room, barely avoiding a stutter.   


"Of course it is," he sighed. He began unbuttoning his school uniform jacket rapidly. "We don't have time to get it." He handed his jacket over to Keith and ushered him in the direction of the boys dorms.   


Keith held the jacket out in front of him, his hands frozen and he followed sluggishly.   


McClain stopped when he noticed Keith moving too slowly. "Well, put it on," he ordered.   


Keith looked from the jacket to McClain. "Why?"  


McClain gave a dramatic, overly exasperated sigh. "Because the only places we're allowed to be shirtless are our dorms and the showers. If you walk around the halls shirtless, you stick out too much for even _my_ sneaking skills to compensate for."  


"No, I mean why are you helping me?"  


McClain blinked at him and his brows drew together. "You're serious?"  


Keith nodded.   


"Fine, I'll tell you if you put that on and tell me where I'm going."  


Keith hesitated only a second before beginning to slip his arms through the sleeves. "16C," he gave in answer.   


McClain looked to the side, presumably in thought, mapping out their route. "Alright, this way," he tugged Keith forward by the sleeve of his own jacket in a different direction than Keith would have gone. Keith couldn't help staring at McClain's hand and wishing he'd grabbed his wrist instead of the fabric around it.   


Keith was led through many hallways and several of the large rooms that were common areas for the students, in which McClain would hurriedly whisper for him to 'act natural' too close to Keith's face for him not to feel something. The results of which made him feel quite unnatural directly after the fact. But it still worked as they blended in amongst the other orange and white uniforms seamlessly.   


Once they got to a particular corner, McClain stopped them before they could turn and looked at the watch on his wrist.   


"Okay, we have to wait here for a bit."  


Keith nodded in acknowledgement but said nothing.   


McClain leaned his back against the wall and slid down it until he was seated. They must be waiting longer than a bit implied.   


"I don't want you to get expelled," McClain said suddenly.   


Keith frowned.   


"That's why I'm helping you," he explained, looking up at him.   


Keith couldn't decide what to say for a moment. "Why should you care whether I get expelled or not?"  


"Shouldn't you?" he challenged.   


Well... "Yes," he admitted. But only because it would affect Shiro, not just him. "But my being expelled doesn't affect you."  


"Yes it does," McClain insisted emphatically.   


"How?" Keith wondered.   


"You're my rival as a pilot! How am I supposed to keep getting better if you're not there to taunt me with how cool your flying skills are?" he asked as if it were obvious.   


Keith felt heat rising to his face _again_. If anyone else, anyone at all, had said that to him, he would have scoffed and ignored them. But he couldn't do that with McClain, not now anyway.   


Before Keith could say anything in response, McClain looked back at his watch and got up, peering around the corner. "Come on, time to go, Kogane."  


They went down a couple halls and then through a door that led to a stairway Keith had never seen before. They quickly climbed up a few flights until blue eyes peeked through a door window.   


"Okay, we wait here now," McClain slid down to sit. Keith chose to remain standing again.   


"If you want to improve your piloting, stop second guessing yourself."  


"What?" it was McClain's turn to be stunned.   


"You often do the right thing, but you do it a second too late. Make the decision and stick to it. If you mess up, just accept that you'll live with the consequences. There's nothing better you can do than that."  


With wide eyes, McClain stared at him not saying anything. This went on for long enough that Keith wondered if he'd said something wrong. Usually he was fine with silence, but perhaps for the first time, he desperately wanted to fill it.   


"Or if you want to improve your overall score, you should study more," he said because it was the only thing he could think of.   


McClain finally looked away from him. "How would you know that?" he asked very quietly.   


Keith didn't think about whether that was meant to be answered before opening his mouth. "You're obviously better than a good percentage of fighter class so that can only mean you do terribly on the written stuff."  


McClain sighed heavily. "I know all of that already," he whispered.   


Keith watched him as his knees drew up and he pulled them close. He wanted to reach out to him but he really didn't think that would work out well. And being the socially inept person that he was, he said what he'd tell himself if he were having the same problem.   


"Then if you're going to beat me, do those things." It was simple, it was straight forward. That summed up Keith's outlook on life, and it always got things done for him.   


McClain turned his head and looked up at Keith. "You know, you're not at all like I expected you to be."  


"I didn't expect anything from you," Keith blurted out immediately.   


"Hey!" McClain jumped to his feet in an instant.   


"—But I'm impressed," he followed up honestly.   


McClain had shock written all over his face. Keith watched closely as emotions flickered across his features. He didn't know what any of them meant but his expression grew tight and then loosened as he turned away from Keith.   


"You're... _very_ different than what I expected." McClain took a deep breath and then looked back out the window to the hallway. "Alright, Kogane. We're almost to your room." He pushed the door open and waited for Keith to come through.   


They went down a few more corridors before arriving at door 16C, the opposite way Keith would normally reach it.   


Keith used his key card to open it, which luckily he had kept in his pants pocket. True to McClain's word, Keith hadn't gotten caught.   


"You'll need this back," Keith said as he entered his room and began taking off McClain's jacket.   


"Actually," McClain stopped him. "Don't worry about that. You can give it back to me tomorrow."  


Keith paused and looked back at him. He had a strange, strained expression that communicated nothing discernible to Keith. "But..." he began slowly. "I could just give it back to you now. I don't need it anymore."  


McClain began avoiding eye contact. "Yes but, you were all sweaty when you put it on. Just hang it up to dry and I'll get it from you tomorrow."  


Keith wasn't sure if this was some kind of excuse or if he seriously just didn't want any contact with Keith's sweat. Both were plausible but Keith quickly decided that it didn't matter the reason. If he had to give the jacket back tomorrow, they would be seeing each other tomorrow. They didn't even have a class together the next day, so he would being seeing him outside of their norm.   


"Okay, tomorrow then," Keith assented.   


"Okay, great!" McClain was fidgeting with his fingers as he lingered in the doorway.   


After a few moments where McClain failed to leave, Keith raised a eyebrow at him. "Do you want to come in?" he offered.   


McClain's eyes widened as they snapped between Keith and further into Keith's room. "No! That's not—" he paused to gather himself, taking a quick breath. "You have a bruise forming on your face," he finally got out.   


Keith instinctively reached up to his left side cheek where he remembered the excellently executed right hook had landed. For the second time he could remember, he felt self-conscious. Getting into fights was perhaps not something to be proud of. "Are you saying I should skip class for a few days?"   


"No, it's not that. I have an idea. I could get you some makeup to cover it up."  


Keith made a face at the thought.   


"Don't give me that! How do you expect to get away with this otherwise? The teachers know which room is yours, if you skip they'll just come straight here!"  


Yeah, yeah, Keith knew that. He reluctantly shrugged a shoulder. Since Keith still didn't like the idea of covering this up but knew he would have to, he busied himself by folding McClain's jacket over his arm. He missed McClain's eyes flicking between his bare chest and the jacket.   


"But that's not what I'm worried about."  


Keith looked back at him so that he'd go on.   


"I'm worried that Griffin will go to a teacher about this and this will all have been for nothing. You'll still get expelled even after I snuck you back here," McClain rubbed at his forehead in a show of stress. He was more concerned than Keith was!   


But it was a foolish worry that needed to dissipate. "James Griffin won't tell anyone," he assured.   


"How do you know that?" McClain asked incredulously. "He seems like the type of guy who would tell even if he'd get in trouble too. Probably thinks he's noble or something," he made a scoffing sound.   


The corner of Keith's mouth flicked up briefly in a forbidden smile. "He won't because he tried to hit you. He only picks on me because he thinks I deserve it. Everyone else, he's super protective over. He'll be too ashamed to tell anyone, and he'll be beating himself up over it for at least a week," he explained.   


McClain's expression grew bizarre. "Why would you deserve something like that?!" he asked, outraged.   


"I don't," Keith confirmed.   


Surprisingly, that answer seemed to calm McClain down. He huffed and crossed his arms as he mumbled, "I didn't like Griffin before, but now I _really_ don't like him."  


And Keith had this odd feeling close to elation but there was a sense of guilt mixed in. He was gratified to hear that someone, finally someone, was taking his side in this. But at the same time, he knew he always threw the first punch. Shiro would not be proud.   


"Just don't worry about it. I'll accept your help, okay?" Keith acquiesced.   


"Fine," McClain answered back even though he squinted his eyes. Even so, after a moment's pause, he seemed satisfied enough and started to head off.  


A few steps and he stopped, pulling himself back into view by the edge of the door frame. "Just do me a favor and don't get caught before I see you tomorrow. Convince your roommate to keep quiet, yeah?"  


"I don't have a roommate," Keith stifled a smile at the manner in which McClain was conducting himself. All too amusing.   


"You don't?" McClain exclaimed, half jealous, half amazed. "How did you manage that?"  


"Too much 'in fighting'," he explained by way of air quotes.   


"Of course you would," he rolled his eyes. "If only I had the guts to pull off something as reckless and rambunctious!" he lamented with false dramatics.   


Normally Keith would find this kind of put upon behavior annoying... normally. But for some reason it was becoming amusing to the point it might have been endearing. Maybe this was because, for once, Keith understood that it was meant to be... playful, for lack of a better term. Wait, was Keith actually being teased?!  


At the thought, Keith decided he better answer in kind. "It really is a shame, but I understand that not everyone has it in them to scare off everyone of the same age. After all, you can't climb all the social hierarchies."  


"True, true," McClain nodded in agreeance. "But at least I actually like my roommate," he flashed Keith a smile that had him wanting to return it.   


"Speaking of which," McClain continued, "I should really be getting back to him. I told him I was just going to get a snack from the vending machine near the weight room. By now he's probably frazzled. And to clarify, I'll be telling him that I couldn't get a snack because I had to rescue a princess from a knight turned evil, then I had to sneak her back through her overrun castle to the safety of her bedchambers. I'll tell him that I was a hero, that I got a kiss and everything. Catch you later!" he winked and gave a half salute before speeding off.   


The door slid shut behind him. Keith stared at it and blinked. He really wished he understood people better. Regardless, he was very much looking forward to seeing McClain tomorrow.   


He held up McClain's jacket and inspected the garment. He should probably be nice and wash it, just in case McClain had actually been serious about the sweat thing. For now though, he hung it up in his closet along with all of his own uniforms so that he had a whole row of orange and white jackets, all with embroidered patches above the left breast pocket, five of which read Kogane, and one McClain. 

Expectation and anticipation both suck if neither are fulfilled. The next morning, at the knock on his door, Keith wasn't met with a tanned, blue-eyed boy, but a pale, blonde haired girl. He had thought about shutting the door in her face without so much as a greeting, but then she had said that 'Lance' had sent her. Lance, of course, meaning McClain. She was carrying a bag that she claimed was full of makeup, but seriously, why would anyone need that much makeup? And was all of that _really_ necessary to cover up a single bruise?   


Perfectly oblivious to Keith's sour distaste at her presence, she said airily, "He must have a good eye for color! I really think we're the same shade."  


She couldn't be more right. McClain's vision and color differentiation must have been impeccable. They had to be for him to be as good a pilot as he had the potential to become. Of course, Keith could tell this girl's intention was not to compliment McClain's merit as a pilot, but he took it that way in order to convince himself to let her in.   


She immediately went for his desk and emptied her bag onto it, spreading everything out and then carefully choosing from the array. Once finished, "Alright," she swiveled his desk chair to face him. "Take a seat and I'll do you up pretty." She gave him a tickled smile that made him blink.   


He certainly hadn't expected her to say something like that. He hated the idea of putting something fake over something that was real, but she had made it feel humorous to him. Although he was still irked that she was there instead of McClain, he let his guard down, just a smidge, and sat down before her.   


Having actually managed to say nothing to her up to this point, he decided not to start with hostility because she didn't seem that bad, and instead asked what he really wanted to know. "How do you know," he paused. She had called him Lance, so... "Lance?" he finished. It was strange referring to him differently when he wasn't there. It was almost as off-putting as referring to a parent by their first name to explain something to some adult. He shivered at the feeling.   


She picked up a small bottle and a triangular shaped sponge and began dabbing at his cheek with a careful gentleness. "What do you mean?" she asked in reply with a small frown that was half confusion, half concentration. "We're all in the same class."  


Really? Keith hadn't recognized her. She had said her name upon arrival but he couldn't remember it.   


"But you're on a first name basis with him," he pointed out. It wasn't exactly that they knew each other he was curious about, but he wondered if they were friends or something.  


She scoffed and rolled her eyes as she put the first product down and reached for another one. "You know, this isn't actually a military school. There are no aliens, so it's not like we'll ever fight anyone," she said dismissively.   


Her attitude immediately irritated Keith. "So, you either don't have respect for this school or you don't have respect for Lance," he said the boy's name more confidently.   


This school may not really be a military school, but it was run like one. He may not follow all the rules or like all of the instructors, but he'd be damned if he didn't respect the purpose of the school. It's what made Shiro's dream possible, after all.   


She looked at him in shock and quickly started backtracking, looking very much flustered. "Lance is always coming up to my friends and I to talk to us. I call him by his first name because he wants me to. Honestly, he wants all the girls to," she defended.   


Surprisingly, Keith had enough social awareness (it was a surprise that he had any at all) to understand that she really hadn't meant any offense. She was probably just trying to create causal conversation but read Keith incorrectly. Though, that part Keith didn't quite catch.   


He let his brow un-furrow and his guard slacken again. The girl sighed almost silently in relief, scooping a tress of hair behind her ear and going back to her task with a new product. An intensely awkward silence followed in which she pointedly kept her eyes from straying to his.   


"Why did you agree to do him this favor?" Keith asked after observing her face.   


She parted her lips slowly and briefly closed her blue eyes as she released a breath. "Why..." she repeated him in a soft sound that trailed off. She was using a brush on his cheek now and her face was very close to his so that she could see every detail of was she was doing. "Because he told me it was a favor for you," her voice was just enough for the distance between them.   


"What do you mean?" Keith asked. He wasn't entirely sure where this was going, but...   


"I think..." she finished powdering over his cheek and took a single step back to look at him. "You have a nice face," she continued. She turned away and looked through her products slower than before. "Your flying is amazing." She picked one and grabbed a tool. "When I watch you..." she turned back but kept her eyes solely on her work as she brought another brush up by his eye. "I get sucked into a world with only your focus. I can only see the sim room, you in the chair and the screen in front of you." She smiled at the thought. "You seem so aloof, like you're untouchable." She traded the brush for some kind of spray bottle and guarded his eye with a hand as she sprayed a mist over the area. She started fanning the mist dry with her hand. "Yet here I am now. I wanted the chance to—" she met his eyes and stopped.   


It was clear that she read exactly what Keith was thinking because her expression changed into something tight and closed off.   


She looked him over and forced a smile. "You look cool in your causal clothes. I bet you don't let all that leather go to waste outside of school."  


She really had caught him, he didn't even have to say anything. Girls had come to him before to reveal their feelings, but he had honestly never had a clue on the lead up. This was a bit different though. As she had been expressing her feelings, he couldn't help thinking that her thoughts about him were like his thoughts about McClain.   


Which...   


He knew she had a crush on him. But then... logically... that meant that he had a crush on McClain.   


Never before had Keith felt bad for someone he had to reject, but this time he sympathized with someone. Honestly, he knew that if this weird... _thing_ he had with McClain suddenly disappeared, he'd miss it.   


He thought the best way to be kind to her was to let her control how this conversation ended.   


"I have a hover bike," he told her.   


"That's really cool!" she laughed but it had a brittle timbre.   


Her smile faded as she stared at his skin. "It's a perfect match," she mumbled to herself. It wasn't clear what she was thinking. Whether it was about herself, Keith, McClain or something else, it looked like she was concluding something.   


Suddenly, she clapped her hands together and gave a slightly more natural grin. "Okay! Now that you've seen me do it, you can do it yourself!" She scooped a bunch of things off his desk into her bag and then neatly organized the rest in rows. "I'm leaving all the products in the order I applied them. Tools will be above," she instructed.   


Keith would not be able to figure out how to replicate what she had done even with that information, he was sure of it. He didn't complain or protest though, because he couldn't ask her to come here every morning after he rejected her feelings.   


Without further decorum, she went straight for his door, saying all the while, "Do me a favor, don't screw it up tomorrow and get caught. I don't want all my hard work to be in vain. When you're all healed up, you can give my makeup to Lance, he'll give it back to me." It was swift and it spoke to her desire to leave quickly.   


Keith stood to stop her. "What was your name?" he asked.   


She looked back at him after a quick exhale. "It's Anna, Anna Heinlein. Just call me Anna, okay?"  


He gave her a nod. "Thanks."  


She gave one last smile before departing.   


Keith thought and lot that morning about many things. Eventually, he decided he'd be keeping McClain's jacket for a while longer, as payback for putting him and Anna through all of that. 

McClain asked after his jacket almost every day. For weeks, from the tail end of the semester and into the next, McClain would find Keith before or after class, in the hallway, in the cafeteria, sometimes he'd startle Keith by popping up out of no where. Every time, he'd ask Keith if he still had his jacket. Keith never told McClain why he was keeping it, just that _maybe_ he'd give it to him later.   


McClain never seemed all that upset about it. He'd usually make some sort of remark about Keith, but he always did it with a grin on his face, so Keith would play into it. When their end of semester scores had come out, nothing had really changed, so Keith made sure to rub it in. He'd developed a little back and forth banter and it was... thrilling for Keith. Eventually the jacket just became an excuse for Keith to make sure McClain had a reason to talk to him.   


He never wore it again. It was clean and hanging in his closet untouched. He couldn't wear it because if anyone looked too closely and saw the name on the patch, or worse, if McClain saw his name emblazoned across Keith's chest, that was just too mortifying for Keith's constitution.   


And so, Keith's flirtation-ship with McClain continued unimpeded. Or at least, Keith thought that they were flirting. He wasn't actually sure though, because he couldn't tell if Keith was special, or if this was just McClain's personality. Their conversations were always exceedingly short and Keith never seemed to catch him interacting with other people in any significant way. That was because they only had their flight sim class together. Any other time Keith saw him, it was because McClain had specifically come to find him. That, at least, made him feel special. ...And there was the fact that at their parting, McClain would almost always make some remark about how he'd be telling his roommate all about his latest conversation with the princess from her balcony, or his adventure to find her disguised amongst the local peasants or some such bullshit. Keith always held himself back from laughing simply because he didn't want to give McClain the gratification. And if anyone else ever called him a 'princess'... well, you get the idea. Regardless, McClain was special to Keith.   


Still, after a while, he wasn't sure he was satisfied with this level of interaction. He wanted to talk to McClain more and for longer. He wanted to spend some real time with him, but he really needed a better way of doing that other than getting into another fight. That would be counterproductive if he ended up getting expelled.   


This was on his mind often enough that one time when Shiro took him off campus to go biking around the desert, he was, admittedly, distracted. Distracted enough to nearly wipe out against a rock face instead of properly avoiding it.   


Shiro came to a stop and ran to him. As he stood and got off his hoover bike, his legs wobbled, so he sat and leaned his back against the bike and tugged off his helmet.   


"Keith! Are you okay?" Shiro knelt beside him and looked him over.   


"I'm fine," Keith reassured him. He didn't bother trying to shoo Shiro away from him because Shiro was now one of the only two people he actually liked close contact with.   


Shiro looked closely at his face. Keith knew right then that he was busted. Keith didn't think he was normally easy to read, but it seemed like everyone was figuring him out lately.   


Shiro quietly chose to sit beside him, leaning against Keith's bike. "So something's on your mind?" Shiro probed gently.   


Keith said nothing in response yet. He would, he knew he had to, he just had to figure out what to say first.   


"You know, I took you out here for a day of fun, not a day of disaster. I think you've earned it. I haven't heard about a single fight you've been in since last year. And I've been informed that you've been doing even better in class since the beginning of last semester. I'm really proud of you," Shiro smiled at him.  


_Ugh._ If only he had actually not been in a fight for that long. He felt guilt tugging hard at his heart.   


"Actually, I was in a fight a couple months ago," he admitted quickly to get it over with.   


Shiro sighed. "At least you're honest about it. Wanna tell me what happened?"  


"Not exactly. It was James Griffin."  


"Of course. Who else?" Obviously Shiro knew the only person Keith ever fought with nowadays was James Griffin. It'd been that way almost since the start.   


"But I don't plan on letting it happen ever again," Keith stated firmly.   


Shiro was surprised. Keith had never once promised not to fight anymore. The most he ever gave was a promise to _try_ to stop fighting.   


"Oh, yeah? And what brought this on?" Shiro asked curiously.   


"I don't want to get expelled."  


"Okay. Any specific reason the fear of death has suddenly been instilled in you?"  


Keith gave Shiro a flat look at his joke which caused Shiro to laugh at him. Shiro was in a good mood today.   


The answer to Shiro's real question was yes. Yes, there was a reason. But instead of answering, Keith posed a question he'd been extremely curious about. "Shiro, have you ever felt..." he had no idea how exactly to articulate this. "All tingly from touching someone?" Keith cringed from his own wording.   


Shiro cocked his head to the side. "Just from touching?" he asked.   


Keith nodded his head.   


"I can't say I have. Why? Have you?"  


Of course, Shiro would turn it back on him. He nodded again.   


Shiro squinted his eyes at him. "So let me get this straight. You don't want to get expelled, you don't want to get in fights anymore and you get 'all tingly' when you touch a certain someone." Shiro grinned devilishly as Keith's face turned red. "Have I put two and two together?"  


"Maybe." Keith crossed his arms stubbornly.   


Shiro laughed with joy and bumped his shoulder to Keith's. "There's no shame in liking someone, Keith."  


Keith sighed heavily. He was embarrassed, but there's no one he'd rather know than Shiro, and that included McClain.   


"So, this someone must be quite the catch if you almost crashed. Are you two dating?" Shiro asked all too cheerily.   


"What? No!" Keith hadn't gotten that far in his thought process about McClain yet. "We've just talked and stuff."  


Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Talking is a start. Are you going to ask this person out?"  


Keith thought for a moment. "I'm not sure," he confessed. There were lots of reasons he could think of not to.   


"But, do you want to?"  


Again, Keith paused before speaking. "I might."  


Shiro hummed in response. "Alright, tell me who it is," he decided.   


"No way!" Keith pushed Shiro over and tried to scramble away.   


Shiro caught his arm and wrestled him to the ground, kicking up red dirt until Keith was stuck with his legs confined by Shiro's and one arm pinned to his back.   


"Why not?" Shiro complained. "There's not a single soul for miles," he gestured with his free arm, rubbing it in Keith's face that he didn't even need it.   


"I don't want to!" Keith continued his stubborn streak.   


"Fine," Shiro released him and Keith quickly got up and stood a few feet away, just in case.   


"There's actually something I wanted to tell you." Shiro kept his seat on the ground, so after a few beats of the air being serious, Keith sat down again with sudden anxiety he couldn't explain.   


"What is it?"  


"No need to be nervous, it's good news," Shiro reassured, knowing exactly what Keith was thinking. Still, he took a breath like he was nervous before continuing. "I wanted to tell you before it was officially announced. I've been chosen to be the pilot for our next scientific mission."  


Keith waited for him to give more details, but apparently Shiro could be stubborn as well. "Like, a real mission?"  


"Yep. The real deal," Shiro nodded.   


"Where to?"  


"Kerberos."  


"...That's really far away."  


"It is. It'll be the furthest any astronauts have been. My team will hold the record for a while." Shiro smiled at this. It was his dream, so it made sense.   


"That's..." Keith wanted to say 'that's great!' or 'I'm so happy for you!' but all he could think was, "How long will it take?"  


The smile on Shiro's face turned wry. "I knew you'd miss me!"  


Keith didn't deny it.   


"It'll take about a year. Five months there, five months back, a couple months in the middle to kick back while the science team does their thing." He made a gesture with his hands like it wasn't a big deal.   


Keith didn't know what to say. "I... hope you have fun."  


Shiro sighed and tugged Keith over to him. "I promise it won't feel nearly as long as it sounds. And if you need something to do to pass the time, I'll make you a deal."  


"A deal?" Keith looked up over his shoulder to watch Shiro's face from the safest place Keith had ever been: between Shiro's arms.   


"When I get back, I'll take you flying, _in space_ ," Shiro emphasized, "if you make an effort to get closer to this person you like, and if you ask them out."  


"But, the government won't let us fly in space whenever we want. We could get shot down!" Keith objected.   


"If I send in my request now, I'm sure it'll be approved by the time I get back. The Garrison reserves flying time for their senior pilots to practice routinely."  


"Okay, but won't you be sick of space?" Keith tried again  


Shiro actually thought about it for a moment. "Maybe. But I can just let you take the wheel. As long as I take off and set us back down, no one will know the difference."  


Oh, it was just so temping an offer. "Fine," Keith agreed. He didn't know how he would go about it, but he was secretly glad Shiro had given him a push. Not that it was actually a secret since Shiro could probably tell.   


"After you ask your crush out, you'll have to tell me who it is."  


"I won't be able to send you a message when you're out in space," Keith pointed out.   


"True, but I have an idea. My friend made these little things he wants to smuggle aboard that just send signals to each other. They can only tell when one pair has been turned on or off. He uses them with his sister. I can ask him for a couple and when you ask your crush out, turn yours on and I'll know."  


That sounded... very comforting. "Okay, but only if you keep yours on unless something bad happens."  


Shiro chuckled softly. "Of course."  


"Good."  


"Hmm, we launch in May. That's three month, which means, by the time I get back you'll be seventeen going on eighteen," Shiro thought out loud.   


"And this is relevant because...?"  


"If you haven't been on a date by then, I'll have failed you," he smiled impishly.

Keith raised an eyebrow like he didn't care at all but that only lasted until Shiro used their already close proximity to his advantage to hold him in place while he gave him a noogie. He absolutely hated it, even more so when Shiro died laughing while pointing at his apparently hilariously styled hair after his escape.   


That was it. Keith was determined. He had three months before Shiro left. In that time, he'd get closer to McClain and then ask him out right _after_ Shiro left. Shiro would suffer, not knowing who Keith's crush was for a full year.

For all of Keith's determination, getting closer to McClain proved more difficult than he had expected. It took him two months just to figure out half of McClain's schedule. He had learned that they're actually a year apart (he was still fifteen, how cute), which was why they had none of their academic classes together. How McClain seemed to know Keith's schedule, even after the semester change at that, was beyond him.   


Once Keith worked up the courage to appear outside of one of McClain's science classes (he wasn't even sure what the class was actually for), he stood several feet away, watching as McClain babbled to another student, wondering what the hell he could say to him. He hadn't prepared anything and every time McClain approached him, he'd always lead the conversation for Keith. Keith wasn't very talkative by nature. Shouldn't he have a reason to talk to someone?   


After a couple minutes of precious time ticked by, he decided, _fuck it_ , he'd leave the talking part for after he got McClain's attention. He bravely walked up behind him and gave the best greeting he could.  


"McClain!"   


Okay, so shouting close enough to make someone jump wasn't actually pleasant for either of them.   


At his name, the boy turned with wide, shocked eyes: still blue, Keith checked.   


Before either of them could say anything, the large boy McClain had been talking to cautiously whispered in McClain's direction, "Lance, who is that? Is he here to fight you?"  


Hearing this, Keith wondered if he looked angry or something. He wanted to make a good impression on McClain's friends because apparently some people won't date you if their friends don't like you. He felt a new wave of anxiousness make his palms sweat.   


Panicking on the inside but somehow managing to keep a stoic face, he opened his mouth to introduce himself. At least then maybe he could recover the situation.   


McClain suddenly interrupted by shoving a hand in each of their faces and saying, "Up-up-up!"  


Keith quickly backed his face away from the hand. No need for things to get weird right now.   


McClain pointed with a flat hand at his companion. "You, stay here," he ordered. Then he did the same to Keith. "You, come with me." He signaled down the hallway and started walking quickly, calling out to Keith, "I'll walk you to class."  


Keith spared a glance at McClain's confused friend before jogging to catch up with him. "But we're already at your class," he pointed out.   


"Yeah, but you finally found me and we've got ten minutes. If we stay there everyone will stare at us. Besides, I bet I can run faster than you," McClain took long strides to prove his point.   


Keith scoffed at him. "You wish."  


McClain laughed in a relaxed and happy way that had Keith smiling before he knew it.   


"So if you went out of your way to find me before class, that must mean you like me or something," he teased.   


"Yeah, I do," Keith answered straight without any pretext.   


McClain almost tripped over his own feet but quickly recovered with a chuckle. "I didn't expect you to admit that. You're more daring than I had thought."  


It seems he didn't take it quite the way Keith had meant it. That was okay though, Shiro hadn't left yet, so all he wanted was to talk to him, not confess.   


"Hmm, so if you came all this way," McClain started thinking out loud. "I can't really think of a reason... Unless!" he suddenly turned to Keith and began searching around him. "You brought my jacket with you!"  


Keith lifted his arms to reveal he was hiding no presents. "I didn't bring your jacket."  


McClain tsked at him. "Of course, you didn't. At this point, I could consider you a kleptomaniac."  


"Have you noticed anything else I've stolen?" Keith retorted playfully.   


"My—" about to say something, McClain stopped himself by nearly biting through his tongue. "Nothing that I can recall," he said so smoothly you could hardly tell he had missed a beat.   


Keith was clueless as to what he may have meant to say instead, so he simply raised an eyebrow at him so that he'd know that Keith knew what he had just done.   


McClain laughed but it sounded nervous. "Don't look at me like that, Kogane. You're still the jacket thief here! And you're gonna make me run through the hallways at risk to myself!"  


Keith rolled his eyes. "I'm not making you do anything. You're the one who wanted to walk me to class even though you were already at yours."  


"It's the principle of the thing, Kogane!" McClain explained with added dramatics. "If I came back to my roommate with a story about how the princess escorted me to a tenuous meeting with the faction leaders in her civil war to negotiate for peace instead of the other way around, he'd laugh at me!"  


Keith refused to smile. This wasn't cute. _It wasn't._ "Or you could just tell him the truth," he suggested.   


"Oh, yeah? And what is the truth?" McClain challenged.   


For Keith though, it wasn't a difficult thing. "That you're 'escorting' an older guy to class, with no reason other than a desire to." Yes, he was attempting to call him out.   


McClain clutched at his chest as if his heart had been wrenched. "Oh! You had to bring the age difference into this! You gut me, Keith! You gut me!"  


Maybe McClain had dodged Keith there, but as soon as Keith had heard his name, he completely forgot about that. Not McClain, Keith decided.   


"No need to be that dramatic. If I wanted to gut you, I would, Lance."  


Lance's eyes widened before he quickly looked away. "This week, I'll beat you on the sim and when I do, you'll owe me a favor," he changed the subject.   


Keith decided he wouldn't let up quite yet. "Don't you think you should set the bar a little lower for yourself. If you do half as good as I do, I'll consider it your win."  


Surprisingly, Lance didn't get offended and snap back at Keith as he had expected. Instead, he gave Keith a serious look saying, "You seem a lot more confident than usual. Did something good happen to you?"  


At first, Keith didn't know how to respond. Lance had never asked Keith much about his life, but neither had he called him Keith nor had he walked him to class, and this was what Keith wanted. All of this was part of what getting closer entailed, wasn't it?   


"I just... a lot of things make sense to me now. And I used to think I was alone, but, I'm not."  


The corner of Lance's mouth quirked up and his eyebrows squiggled. "You're an honest guy, aren't you?"  


"Hm?" Keith felt a little perplexed.   


"I don't know how you do it." Lance stopped short of the crowd of people in front of Keith's class. Keith hadn't noticed until now, but he hadn't been leading the way. Lance knew the way to Keith's class all on his own.   


Keith was about to say something to him, he wasn't even sure what would come out, his feelings were reaching the surface, but then Lance cut him off. On purpose? It was too hard to tell.   


"Don't think that this gets you off the hook for the day! I'll be finding you some time after lunch, so I'll know you had enough time to go get my jacket!" he told Keith.   


He was turning to leave, but Keith wasn't done with him yet. "I make no promises," he announced.   


Lance stopped to give a mock long-suffering sigh. "You klepto," he shook his head in exasperation.   


"I haven't stolen anything else."  


Lance stared at him with a look that made no sense to Keith. "My sanity. That's what you've stolen." With a glance down at his watch, he took off running.   


Keith didn't understand Lance, but he felt... giddy.   


If only the walk between their classes hadn't been so short. If the hallway stretched on forever, Keith would keep walking.   


He was becoming more sure that if he took a chance, it might pay off. He knew he had to wait though. Just a bit longer, he told himself. All things have their time. 

It was only a few weeks later, in mid-May, when Shiro and his team were launched into space. Keith watched the footage of the launch sequence from his phone. Most news outlets were covering it live.   


He thumbed the tiny black box Shiro had given him with anxiousness. He was happy that Shiro was about to live his dream, but he couldn't shake the unfounded sense that he was being left alone. It was irrational, ridiculous even, and he felt guilty for feeling this way.   


The take off of the rocket went smoothly and so did the separation. He watched until they made it past the moon and the crew unbuckled themselves. They wouldn't need to course correct for hours.   


Shiro and the youngest science officer took off the upper halves of their suits, sending them floating behind them and held up two identical black boxes to the camera. The reporter was commenting on the unknown devices but Keith drowned out the noise as he held his matching device up next to his phone. All it had was a single chrome-colored metal switch that was difficult to turn on and off accidentally and two green lights. One that indicated if he turned his on and one that would light up if Shiro flipped his switch.   


The green light appeared on Keith's black box shortly before he saw Shiro flip the switch on camera. Keith smiled as a little of his worry left him. He planned on keeping his box on him at all times.   


The other officer turned his on and off many times in a pattern while he grinned at the camera. Presumably his message was more complicated. He and Shiro didn't need anything complicated. All they needed was to know they were each okay.   


As the ship traveled further and further away, the cameras got continually more behind reality. Keith shut it off and curled up on his side on his dorm room bed, staring at the green light.   


He thought about how long it would be until he saw Shiro again. The cameras would come back up on the news this time next year as they approached Earth, but he was thinking he'd wait to see Shiro's face in person. He wouldn't be allowed on the tarmac to greet Shiro when they landed. That was only for military personnel and maybe direct family members if given special permission. No, he'd have to wait a bit longer than that.   


But really, it'd probably be better to wait for Shiro to come back to him. He didn't want to be around camera crews or around other people in general. It was still so far out but he couldn't help thinking about it. He wanted Shiro to return home.   


In the mean time though, he did have a deal to keep. He had a plan now. He'd make sure both lights were green. 

It wasn't actually the day after Shiro left. See, the thing was, Shiro launched on a Tuesday, and Keith wanted to wait until Friday when all the grades had a longer lunch period at the same time. It was the only day of the week he and Lance had lunch together. He knew this, but he'd never actually seen Lance at lunch unless Lance found him. They'd never eaten lunch together either. Keith had been checking various places around campus every Friday looking for him. He'd narrowed down the possible places Lance could be, so he was sure he'd find him in time to talk to him. He didn't want to try asking him out without a bit of privacy, and for that, he needed time to take Lance away from everyone else. Lance was always talking to someone, he was never seen alone, so this had to be his best bet.   


Keith ate his lunch quickly as he systematically made his way around campus, dropping his tray off in one of the receptacles once he'd finished. Of course, he found Lance in one of the last places he looked but considering it was a warm day, he should have thought about looking outside sooner.   


There was a low wall that students sat on in bunches and clusters, talking with their friends while they enjoyed the golden sunlight. It wasn't quite so hot yet since it was technically still spring and the sun wasn't as direct.   


He spotted Lance approaching a group of girls sitting on the wall that included Anna Heinlein. Anna saw Lance too and pointedly turned her back on him looking annoyed. Anna and Lance were both oblivious to Keith's presence at first.   


Keith felt adrenaline rushing through him. He wanted to keep himself under control; greet Lance first, ask to talk to him alone and then ask him out, not reverse order.   


He was about to say something, he opened his mouth—  


"Good afternoon, Jen, my princess! And how are you today?"   


_What?_  


"Princess?" the girl next to Anna looked like she might be offended. "That's a new one, Lance. Come to try and flatter your way to a date?" she said with an icky amount of pseudo-sweetness.   


Lance backtracked at bit. "No, no! That one just slipped out. But I have to admit, you are looking extra radiant today. And since you mentioned it, it is getting close to summer break. How will I sleep at night not knowing how your day was if I don't get your number?"   


_This wasn't happening, this wasn't happening. What the what?!_  


Keith's hearing went blank but they still continued, the girl looking bothered and stuck up and Lance looking like he was trying too hard. It was embarrassing. How could Lance do that to himself?!   


No. Keith was embarrassed. Why did he think he was special? Why did he ever dare to think that there was anything more than what was being said on its face? He was ashamed of himself. To be so drawn in despite having never watched him interact with anyone else. He'd gotten carried away, only now he had been dropped back down just to faceplant in the dirt.   


With his peripherals, he saw Anna take notice of him and she paled at the look on his face. She followed the line of his glare to Lance and then looked back at him with a questioning expression. She looked between them a few more times trying to decipher something before glaring at Lance in turn.   


Anna stood suddenly with a upbeat hop and a seamless smile. "Keith! It's been so long since I've seen you!" she said loudly enough to get the attention of every nearby person. She bounded up to him and started hanging off his arm.   


"You have to meet my best friend! Jen!" she waved to the girl she had been sitting with. "Come over here!"  


The brunette stood a little unsure, looking at Anna like she had grown a second head.   


Lance's expression was now closed off. He stood there stiffly and silently watching.   


"Jen! I'm sure you know who Keith is."  


"Anna!" Jen awkwardly chastised her friend in embarrassment.   


Anna continued unabated. "I met him formally last semester 'cause he needed a bit of help!" she winked at him. "Keith, this is my best friend, Jennifer Lewis."  


"Hi," Jennifer said shyly, very different from how she talked to Lance.   


"Keith has a hoover bike! Isn't that cool?"  


"Yeah, that is really cool," Jennifer agreed.   


"Keith, you _have_ to take us out on it sometime! It'd be so much fun!"  


"Anna!" Jennifer elbowed Anna in the ribs.   


Anna glared at her friend before turning puppy dog eyes to Keith. "It's fine, isn't it? Won't you please, Keith?"  


Why was Anna doing this? Keith was pretty sure that all of this was for show, that Anna's enthusiasm was fake and that she meant none of this. But what was the point?   


Anna gave him a look to get him to play along. Keith couldn't match her energy and he could never put on such a show. However...   


"Maybe I could," he let her do the planning. He couldn't think of anything rational right now so he gave in and let her take over.   


"See, Jenny! He doesn't bite!" She made a show of squeezing Keith's arm in affection. "This will be so much fun!"  


"Yeah, I guess so," Jennifer said weakly, still not over her shyness.   


"Alright! I'll have to leave you here," Anna told her friend. "Come on, Keith! I want to catch up with you!" she started ushering him away toward the doors to the building.   


Keith followed until they were a ways inside and alone in the hallway. She let him go without a struggle.   


"Why did you do that?" Keith asked.   


"What do you mean, why? More like, what did Lance do to you?" she asked in response.   


Keith was definitely becoming too easy to read. He focused for a moment on losing all expression.   


"No," Keith defied her. "Why did you do that?" he repeated.   


Anna looked a little worried at his reaction. "Lance obviously did something to piss you off. You looked like you were either going to strangle him or run, so I decided I wouldn't let him get away with it," she explained.   


Keith knew Anna was trying to help him but Keith wasn't just pissed, he was livid.   


"You shouldn't have interfered. It wasn't your place," he stated with authority.   


She recoiled a bit and blinked in confusion. "What did he do?" she tried again.   


"Yeah! What did I do?!"  


Anna looked behind Keith in fright but Keith refused to turn around yet. He was sure his face was showing his emotions again and he didn't want Lance to see them.   


When Keith didn't respond, Lance got closer and continued. "Please let me know, because I really don't think I did anything!" he shouted.   


"I'll go," Anna said quickly, leaving in a hurry.   


Half of Keith wanted Anna to stay because then he might actually get out of this conversation, but he knew that wasn't fair. After all, what did Lance really do wrong? Did he lead him on? Maybe not. Did he say anything offensive? It only hurt Keith because of his own false suspicions.   


"Well, Keith?!" Lance grabbed his shoulder to turn him to face him. "What did I do?!"  


"Nothing," Keith gave him the courtesy of staring him straight in the eyes.   


Lance furrowed his brows, clearly not satisfied. "Nothing? If that's true, then stop looking like that! Stop it!" Lance pointed to Keith's face.   


Stop it? _Stop it?!_ Surely Keith's anger washed away whatever look had been on his face before. He remembered how Lance had made him feel, how he had thought he was special. This had all become like a sick joke at Keith's expense.   


"You don't get to dictate how I feel!" Keith yelled back.   


Lance had to decency to look shocked and he even backed away to give Keith more space. "I wasn't trying to—"  


Keith walked away.   


"Hey!" Lance followed after. "Wait! Keith!"  


Keith knew there was only one place Lance couldn't follow him, so he hurried through the crowd of the cafeteria to put some distance between them and then went straight to his room. Lance knew where it was but he couldn't get in unless Keith let him.   


He stayed on the other side of Keith's door for quite a while, saying things that Keith couldn't make out. It didn't matter though. Keith knew he was the one who had fucked up. He just needed time to get over this.   


He curled up on his bed again and took out his black box from his pocket. He fingered at the switch knowing he couldn't flip it. Shiro's green light made him feel guilty. Did it count if he gets his heart broken and knows it won't work out?   


No, no. This wasn't heartbreak, Keith told himself. If he never really shares his feelings, it doesn't count.   


After thinking about it some more, he felt bad for snapping at Lance and then running away. How uncool of him. If he just gave himself some time to kill these feelings, maybe he could still try being Lance's friend. Maybe. 

Lance tried talking to him every day the last two weeks before summer break. Even Anna tried a couple times. Still, Keith avoided them. He just needed time and if he spoke to Lance right then, he was afraid he'd actually get his heart broken.   


Summer break came and went and Keith had had plenty of time to think and chill. It was the most boring summer he could remember having, alone in the desert without Shiro around to mess with him and break up his monotonous days. And when the fall semester started, he thought himself ready to try again. He would be more patient this time and he wouldn't get ahead of himself.   


But then Lance never came looking for him. He didn't seek out eye contact before going into the simulation chamber and he certainly didn't give him a teasing wink.   


This wasn't what he had been hoping for but he thought it was only fair. He'd just give it some time. He could be the one to approach Lance. And maybe he'd have to tell him sorry, but that was fine. He just needed to wait so that Lance wouldn't dismiss him. 

Four days before his seventeenth birthday, he found out through a briefing to the entire school that the members of the Kerberos Mission, including Takashi Shirogane, had crashed their ship three days ago and were now presumed dead after no contact for seventy-two hours. Of course, he wasn't told separately or before the others. He wasn't anyone special. He wasn't Shiro's family member, not really; not in any way that legally counted. He was just another face in the crowd of young people, all whispering around him. Not for the first time, Keith thought that maybe he really was alone.   


But no, this didn't make any sense. The black box he pulled out of his pocket still had one shining green light. That meant Shiro was okay. None of these people knew Shiro like he did, which was why he was the only one with the little, insignificant, precious device.   


But what if Shiro didn't have it anymore? Or there was no time to turn it off? Maybe because they were so far away, the device just took longer for the end of the signal to stop. Maybe he was holding a remnant of the near past.   


He watched it continually for days. He felt a sense of great dread at the thought that it might go dark.   


As it didn't, he grew a little more hopeful and a little more fearful each day. He eventually came to the conclusion that there were four possible scenarios. Either Shiro was fine and that's why the light was still green, he was not fine but he couldn't turn the light off, he lost it, or it was stolen.   


He wanted to hope for the first one, but wouldn't that still mean that their communications were down, or even worse, that the Garrison was lying to them?  


He decided to keep hoping and keep hoping. What else was there to do? 

The day the light went dark was the same day he finally lost it on Griffin for the last time. Right in front of Iverson, they beat the shit out of each other. He faintly remembered someone other than Iverson trying to stop him, but it was of no consequence. He was promptly expelled with no one there to fight his case. He didn't feel like he deserved anyone on his side anyway.   


He fled to his home out in the desert where he thought about nothing and everything. It was better to be alone when that's what you were. He couldn't be lost if he knew every rock face, flagstone and dune for miles. And he couldn't be directionless if no matter how far out he went, he could make his way back home.   


The stars were his constant companion and his constant foe. They were so far away, impossible for him to get to, but he needed them nonetheless.   


After long enough in isolation, he started hearing things he knew weren't there. He felt a pull that wouldn't let him leave the desert. He decided he was stuck there without putting up a fight. It was his bowl and he'd swim circles the rest of his life if that's what would satisfy this feeling. 

A light came back on. 

The light wasn't the one from his black box with worn, chipped paint, but the one in his heart.   


It was Shiro. He knew it as he turned the withered, unconscious face to see him better. Keith could suddenly breath again. After so long, he felt his life start again.   


He cut Shiro free and hoisted him up, draping Shiro's arm across his shoulders. He felt overwhelmed with a need to keep Shiro close, to hold onto these old feelings he had long since suppressed.   


But then, "Nope, no you'r—, nope, no-no-no-no-no, no you don't, I'm saving Shiro," a tall, lanky brunet with a frown on his face insisted, dragging Shiro's other arm across his shoulders.   


Keith was starting his memory up again. "Who are you?"  


"Who am I? Uh, the name's Lance."  


The gears slowly started turning, clunking together at first.   


"We were in the same class at the Garrison."  


"Really, are you an engineer?"  


"No, I'm a pilot. We were like rivals, you know. Lance and Keith, neck and neck."  


Oh. That name, upon hearing it again, set something off in Keith's mind and he noticed blue eyes waiting for recognition. "Oh, wait, I remember you. You're a cargo pilot." Fantastic Keith. Good going.   


"Well, not anymore. I'm fighter class now, thanks to you washing out."  


What could he say to that? "Well, congratulations."  


This was a chance, Keith thought. He wanted to start again. He wanted to live his life again. The universe didn't give do-overs, but every day was a new morning.   


Keith had no idea what he wanted. He was scared to even want things, but with his heart thumping away again, he took to his bike finally feeling the wind on his face and through his hair.   


He'd try his best to want something worth while. 

**Author's Note:**

> So this is technically a prequel but it can be read on its own just fine! I was originally debating about putting this in The Forgotten Prophecy as a series of flashbacks but even I get impatient when writing slowburn. I hope you enjoyed. It doesn't actually matter which order you read this and TFP in, so don't worry if you read them in reverse! Love you all!


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